Heaving a sigh of relief with their star striker Sunil Chhetri reaching here after initial denial of visa, Churchill Brothers would look to seal their first away win when they take on Warriors FC in a crucial AFC Cup group match on Wednesday.
Chhetri was granted visa after the intervention of Ministry of External Affairs on the request of the Sports Authority of India. Churchill’s Afghan striker Balal Arezou was also initially denied visa before being cleared to travel to Singapore after submitting more relevant documents. A win for Churchill against their opponents, whom they had beaten 3-0 in the home leg in Pune on April 2, would keep them in the hunt for a pre-quarterfinal berth. Churchill are third in the group with four points from three matches.
Though Warriors would enjoy the home advantage, the domination the Goan side enjoyed in Pune should give them the confidence to come out winners at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
Chhetri and Arezou are expected to reach here early on Wednesday and they will be available for the Group E match, but the team management will have to take a call on whether the duo would play or not since they will miss out on match practice. “I will have to take a decision if they can start the match since they might be experiencing jet lag. We have some important matches coming up in our domestic league and to be honest we have not played a full strength squad in any of our AFC Cup matches since our first target is to win I-league,” said Technical Director, Subhash Bhowmick.
“Chhetri will not want to sit on bench, so I will most probably rest Arezou. But I do hope to rest Chhetri and get him ready for our game against Dempo,” he said.
“The boys are proud to represent their country in such a prestigious continental tournament but we have to maintain a balance so as to not hamper our chances of winning the I-league. I am satisfied with our performance in AFC Cup so far with four points from three matches,” he added.
The Warriors have made a woeful start to the tournament with three straight losses, but coach V Selvaraj has not given up yet on the competition and expects an improved performance from his side. “It will be quiet different conditions from last week (in Pune) when we played in the afternoon and I believe the result will be different too. Some players are coming back from injury and thus I have more options,” he said.
East Bengal beat Rovers
Kolkata: East Bengal virtually stormed into pre-quarterfinals of AFC Cup with 2-1 win over Tampines Rovers in a Group H league match here on Wednesday.
East Bengal led 1-0 at half-time with Chidi Edeh’s (23rd min) strike. Warriors equalised through Shaiful Esah in the 69th minute before lalrindika Ralte (87th min) scored the winner for East Bengal.